Saturday, December 24, 2016

From The Living Church-In the grand tradition of end-of-the-year blog posts, the temptation to reduce another revolution around the sun into an abiding theme, well, abides. To say that 2016 has been a year many would prefer to observe from the rear-view mirror flirts with understatement.

Perhaps the strongest statements about the year came at its beginning and end, with the release of David Bowie’s Blackstar and Leonard Cohen’s You Want it Darker bookending the year — two albums pondering mortality and the afterlife, released mere weeks before each artist’s demise. A reflection on the two albums may now seem morbid, but I believe they provided lenses through which we can make meaning of the detritus of 2016, and even come to understand better the condition of Western humanity in what may be the dusk of modernity.

Bowie’s album, arriving in the first week of 2016, preceded the artist’s succumbing to cancer by mere days. Before Bowie’s death, the album was heralded as an unconventional late gem of his career. It stood up on its own merits as an ethereal reflection upon mortality and legacy, along with Bowie’s more traditional subject matter of decadence, sex, and low culture. Following his death, the album’s genius as a prerecorded dispatch “from beyond” garnered greater consideration and praise.

Here’s how the legend of St. Nicholas came to become the icon we know today.The character of Santa Claus has come a long way over the years. We know him today as a jolly, magical elf who brings goodies and toys for good girls and boys across the world. But that’s only the 21st-century version of Santa here in the U.S.Like Santa Claus, St. Nicholas himself is a bit of a mythical figure. Many of the stories we know about him may be lore. There are shockingly few historical documents to attest to much of St. Nicholas’ tenure as the Bishop of Myra. Almost everything we know about St. Nicholas lives on in legend.St. Nicholas reportedly was born around 280 A.D. in the city of Patara, near Myra in what is now modern-day Turkey. As the legend goes, St. Nicholas was born into a very wealthy family. His parents died when he was young and he inherited a vast amount of wealth, which he gave away to those in need. He was lauded for his charity and selflessness and was named the Bishop of Myra.

Friday, December 23, 2016

Greetings in the name of Jesus, the Word made flesh who by the action of God and the obedience of His blessed Mother, the God bearer, came to dwell among us, Emmanuel.In November, I visited Pakistan to express solidarity with Christian communities across the country, which have suffered much over recent years. We remember the slaughter of innocent worshippers on Easter Sunday 2016 in Lahore, and before that the attack on worshippers in Peshawar at Christmas 2013 and many other incidents. Such attacks are not only designed to inflict appalling suffering but also to sow fear in the heart of Christian, and other minority communities. During the visit I spoke with some of the survivors of these attacks, and I was deeply moved and humbled by their extraordinary courage in continuing to be faithful witnesses of Jesus. They spoke of knowing now more than ever that Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

From The Telegraph-An Anglican church has banned women from applying to its vacant post of vicar on ‘biblical’ grounds.Holy Trinity Church in Wallington in south west London will now issue a job advert that specifically excludes female clerics from seeking the job.

The Church of England said such a move was rare but not unique. A spokesman said that because vicars and priests are ‘postholders’ rather than employees, the church does not fall foul of equal opportunities laws.

NOT content with a Virgin birth and angelic visitations, Mary and Joseph sprang an additional surprise on those gathered around the manger on Sunday: a wedding.

Chrissie Armstrong and David Blamire, playing Mary and Joseph at St James’s, Whitehaven, decided that they wanted to get married during the nativity service. Their daughter, Daisy, born seven months ago, was also baptised, after playing the baby Jesus in the tableau.

“It was the obvious thing to do,” Mrs Armstrong said. “We’ve both been married before; so we didn’t want to make a big fuss in all the preparation. . . It’s amazing that we managed to keep it all such a secret. David’s dad had an inkling that Daisy might be baby Jesus, but the wedding came out of the blue for everyone else.”

In on the act was the Priest-in-Charge, the Revd Robert Jackson, who arranged for the couple to be married under licence, so that banns did not have to be read. He hid the wedding dress in the vestry.

From NBC-When President Barack Obama signed an update to U.S. law protecting religious freedom late last week, one provision drew special attention: U.S. law now recognizes non-believers as, in essence, a religious group.

Obama's signing of amendments to the International Religious Freedom Act on Friday wasn't widely noticed — except among the community of atheists, agnostics and others who categorize themselves as "humanists."

For the first time, the law — which was originally passed in 1998 — specifies that "the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is understood to protect theistic and non-theistic beliefs and the right not to profess or practice any religion."

Among other things, the main amendments to the law promoting religious liberty around the world:

Fans of EWTN’s The Journey Home program saw a familiar face Monday: Father Tom Wray, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s Director of Evangelization and Discipleship.

Once an Episcopal pastor, Father Wray converted to Catholicism and, after several years of work as a layman, was ordained a Catholic priest under what’s called the “pastoral provision.’ Established in 1980 by Pope St. John Paul II, it’s a process that allows American bishops to ordain some former Anglican and Lutheran pastors as Catholic priests, and to dispense them from a vow of celibacy if , like Father Wray, they are married and have children.

The journey has been a difficult leap of faith for Father Wray, who declined the offer to appear on the weekly interview program two years ago. Leaving the Episcopal church caused rifts in his extended family, unhappiness and anger in his former (Episcopal) parish, and astonished disbelief from old friends. It meant the end of a career and of seemingly settled plans for the future – all without any guarantee that ordination as a Catholic priest would ever be possible.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Wallington’s Holy Trinity Church explained it will only seek men to fill a vacancy after a church council decided the next leader should be male for ‘biblical reasons’ in a newsletter given out to church-goers.

The newsletter handed out to the congregation, on Sunday, November 20, outlines the church’s reasons to appoint a man to the position of vicar in its ‘leadership and gender roles in Christ’s church’ section of information and events page.

It reads: “At our recent open evening we explained the parish church council’s view that the position of the overall leader (vicar) should be male for biblical reasons. Thank you to all those who shared their questions, views and points.

“We have now produced a summary sheet setting out the principle reasons from scripture for maintaining the historic position of this church on this matter.”

The same newsletter also asked its members to “pray for an urgent visit by a boiler specialist”.

Atheists in Kenya (AIK) have faulted the recent nomination of retired Anglican Archbishop Eliud Wabukala to be the new chairperson of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), saying “he will forgive the corrupt” due to his Christian values.

In a press statement signed by the President of AIK, Harrison Mumia, the atheists vowed to challenge his nomination in parliament during his vetting.

Mr Mumia said that with Wabukala’s strong Christian foundation where forgiveness is a virtue, it would be difficult for him to recommend punishment for corrupt people who are ‘wrongdoers’.

From Africa News-The Church of England has appointed its first black bishop in over two decades. Nigerian Woyin Karowi Dorgu is set to be the 13th bishop of Woolwich.

The move by the Church is as part of efforts to significantly increase its handful of minority ethnic clergy in senior leadership roles.

Dorgu joins Ugandan John Sentamu, currently the archbishop of York, who is the only other black bishop. He is the second most powerful leader of the church and was consecrated as bishop of Stephney 20 years ago.

On the first day of winter and just hours before the longest night of the year, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in downtown Richmond held a service Wednesday to memorialize homeless people who have died this year.It’s an annual service that the church has held for several years. The church’s rector said it recognizes “the dignity of every human being.”“Every human being has dignity, and we have a responsibility to look out for one another,” said the Rev. Wallace Adams-Riley. “That’s especially true for those most vulnerable.”Thirty people in the region who have dealt with homelessness and had passed away within the past year were recognized during the candlelight service held on National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, a day in which national organizations encourage communities to recognize people who have died homeless.

From Montana-Donald Trump's Inaugural weekend will include an interfaith prayer service at Washington's National Cathedral, a customary event but complicated this year by anger over the president-elect's rhetoric on Muslims, immigrants and others.

The service was announced Wednesday by the presidential inaugural committee, which provided no details on the ceremony or participants. A similar 2013 event for President Barack Obama's second-term Inaugural included about two dozen religious leaders, including three Muslims, along with representatives of Judaism, evangelical Christianity, mainline Protestantism, Orthodox Christianity and Sikhism.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington, has been helping plan the Jan. 21 service and will participate, said his spokeswoman, Chieko Noguchi. She said the organizing "is still in its early stages."

In a statement issued Wednesday, the Rev. Canon E. Mark Stevenson, director at Episcopal Migration Ministries, announced that the West Virginia Interfaith Refugee Ministry had been approved to join its network of 30 refugee resettlement sites throughout the country.

“It is particularly heart-warming to me that this important step in the process of welcoming refugees comes as it does on the cusp of the commemoration and celebration of the birth of Jesus,” he said, “for, as Scripture tells us, it was not long afterwards that he himself became a refugee.”

Episcopal Migration Ministries, one of nine national refugee resettlement agencies that work with the federal government and local groups to place refugees, and local volunteers have been working together in hopes of establishing a resettlement community in Charleston, making the city a safe haven for people who have had to flee their homes because of war, persecution or other violence.

In the ministry’s “resettlement communities,” local organizers assist refugees with finding health care and work, translation and other services.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey was "fully supportive" of the decision to remove his portrait from the front of King's College, London.

The college, one of the top academic institutions in the world and part of the University of London, was accused of giving in to a "gay-stapo" because Lord Carey is known to take a conservative Christian line on the subject of gay marriage.

The portrait of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who supports gay marriage and whose own daughter relinquished her job as a vicar to marry her female partner, has also been removed, as has that of Sir Michael Howard, former leader of the Conservatives, who led the party's decision to support civil partnerships.

The picture of Lord Carey of Clifton was removed after a five-year campaign by students who opposed his views on gay marriage led by Ben Hunt, student union president who took part in the review of the static portraits last year.

In an article on Conservative Woman website, King's College lecturer Niall McCrea and Rev Jules Gomes, pastor of St Augustine's Church, Douglas, on the Isle of Man, say: "For a prestigious institution of Christian heritage to allow this campaign to claim victory is worrying.

A senior Anglican has suggested the Church of England is institutionally racist and does not respect its ethnic minority membership.

The Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, chaplain to Commons Speaker John Bercow, said ethnic minorities are "visible yet invisible" within the Church.

Mrs Hudson-Wilkin, who is originally from Jamaica, said the Church of England could learn from Pentecostalism, which is thriving and has prominent black leadership.

Her comments came after the Rev Prebendary Dr Woyin Karowei Dorgu, who was born and raised in Nigeria, was appointed as the next Bishop of Woolwich - the first black man to be made a bishop in 20 years.

"We are visible yet invisible," Mrs Hudson-Wilkin told the BBC. "I do not believe that the Church recognises that we are there.

From The Wall Street Journal-“A half a Revelation, please.” The Rev. Stuart Cradduck allowed the theological implications of the request to hang in the air for a moment.

“Why settle for half when you could have a full revelation?” Mr. Cradduck answered.

Then he turned to the bank of wooden kegs under the stained-glass windows to fill the beer-lover’s order.It was the last Saturday in November and Mr. Cradduck, the rector of St. Wulfram’s Church in this Midlands town, was serving behind an improvised bar in the church, dressed in a black cassock and clerical collar. With events like the “Land of Hops and Glory” beer festival, Mr. Cradduck and other Anglican modernizers are trying to make their churches hubs of increasingly secular communities.

Anyone willing to risk falling into the trap of overanalyzing his books might begin by noting that they have been used to teach Christian doctrine, even though he did not consider himself a highly religious person. Still, he was steeped in Christianity.

Geisel not only attended his mother’s Episcopal church but his father’s Lutheran congregation. Later, at Dartmouth and Oxford, he participated in chapel services.

He was drawn to church in part by hymns and their use of rhyme and repetition. One particular hymn seems significant. He memorized “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty,” including the final lines, “God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity.” Perhaps Geisel recalled the song’s numerical reference when he depicted the Grinch’s conversion in the book:

From RNS-“Suicide is on the rise among Irish priests” is the kind of report which causes or should cause concern and a sense of crisis among Irish and non-Irish, priests and non-priests, Catholics and non-Catholics—anyone with humane instincts, empathic concerns, and an interest in the future of faith communities. Sighting it prompted this a-seasonal commentary, which overlooks natural topics for the season: elections and holidays.

This line appeared in Sarah Mac Donald’s story in the pre-Christmas issue of The National Catholic Reporter (Dec. 16-29). She quoted a leader of Ireland’s Association of Catholic Priests. Elaboration: “the vast majority of Irish priests [are] now age 70 or over,” who live “increasingly isolated and lonely lives” and deduce “that we no longer really matter.” Another said, “we’ve done our best to carry the good news,” but now are “ritually presented as bad news people, controlling, oppressing, limiting, obsessing.” Also, they are not being replaced; there are almost no seminarians in line. Temporary if partly illusory relief comes through the importation of priests from Africa, Asia, and the other places where there is—yes!—an oversupply of priests.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

The Rev. Deacon Geoffrey T. Smith has been named the Episcopal Church’s Chief Operating Officer, a member of the Presiding Bishop’s staff. The church’s Executive Council made the appointment following a joint nomination by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the House of Deputies.

“I’m thrilled to be joining in the work of the Episcopal Church Center,” Smith said. “As a deacon, part of my ordination charge is to ‘assist the bishop in the ministration of God’s Word,’ and I can think of no more exciting opportunity to do just that than in supporting Presiding Bishop Curry’s vision and ministry amongst us.”

“We are working to deepen our culture as a staff to really live out the loving, liberating, and life-giving way of Jesus,” Bishop Curry said. “Geof is a natural fit for where we are on this journey. He combines in his person highly skilled managerial competency and the experience of a seasoned corporate executive, with a genuinely Christ-centered spirit and the heart of a servant.”

From Kansas-In five days it will be here. Next Sunday, Christmas will dawn and the world will pause, even if only for a short time, to celebrate the birth some 2,000 years ago of a man-child to two refugee immigrants, sheltered in a cave-like barn, for there was no room for them in the local inn.

Since that birth, the world has never been the same. That’s truly amazing! But why? What makes this birth worthy of worldwide celebration? Why have we been so engulfed in the frenzy of the past days getting ready to celebrate the birth of this ignoble child?

As a retired Episcopal priest, I’ve led glorious celebrations of that birth for some 45 years. I should know why we do this frenzied spending every year, yet, to be honest, I’ll admit I’m still baffled by much of it. There is so much about this event that I still don’t understand. For instance, why did the creator of all the cosmos choose to personally visit this tiny rock?

Except for a lone cow, the stable stands empty in the Nativity scene at Grace Episcopal Church in the Fauquier County town of The Plains.

The creche is unlike those commonly seen in churches and front yards beginning the month before Christmas, typically featuring figures of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in the stable, often joined by shepherds, angels, wise men and animals.

Instead, the scene is an imaginative, highly detailed, miniature representation of life in the city of Bethlehem. Townspeople are seen going about their daily business of baking bread, weaving fabric and even taking a nap. As the holiday approaches, more figures will be added to the scene to illustrate the Christmas story.

From ACNS-The first event will take place between 3 – 5 February in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It will be themed around a celebration of Absalom Jones – born into slavery in November 1746, he became the first African-American to be ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church. He is remembered in the province’s calendar of saints on the anniversary of his death: 13 February 1818.

Subsequent events will take place in May 2017 (West Missouri), September 2017 (Georgia), November 2017 (San Joaquin) and April 2018 (Honduras) before a joint evangelism mission with the Church of England in July 2018. The Episcopal Church is planning to hold further such events in the years ahead.

The Pittsburgh Revival – the Presiding Bishop’s Pilgrimage for Reconciliation, Healing and Evangelism in Southwestern Pennsylvania – will feature a worship service and other gatherings “that invite people across boundaries and into reconciling relationship with each other and with God,” the Episcopal Church said.

Monday, December 19, 2016

THE travails of Aleppo, it is generally agreed, pose one of the great moral crises of our time. The city is also the location of some venerable Christian churches, going back to the faith's earliest years, so you might expect that the world's Christian leaders would have a lot to say about events in that unhappy place, and in Syria generally.

In fact, the reaction of global Christianity to the unfolding drama in northern Syria has been muffled and contradictory. There are good reasons for that. The leaders of Syria's local churches have generally looked to President Bashar al-Assad as their protector; and their feeling that only Mr Assad guarantees their lives has deepened as the conflict has polarised, with fundamentalist Sunni fighters, murderously hostile to all other faiths, on one side and government forces backed by Shia militias and Russian air power on the other. In this state of affairs, only the latter coalition seems to offer Christian churches any chance of prolonging their precarious existence. Many would say Mr Assad is to blame for bringing about that polarisation; but to a bishop on Syria's front-line, survival probably matters more than political analysis.

From Catholic World Reporter-“God made us in his image—and we returned the favor.” I was reminded of this old joke reading the latest tome from John Shelby Spong, for he employs what he thinks he knows of biblical studies and theology to sever Jesus both from history and his Jewish matrix to generate an ideal Jesus who affirms the progressive project entire, a Jesus who looks like Spong.

For those not familiar with Spong, he has long reigned as the maddest of clerical madmen, an energetic Episcopalian bishop of the sort with views and hubris only the American Episcopal Church could produce. Denying every article of creedal Christianity from Virgin Birth to Resurrection and promoting every progressive cause célèbre from abortion to transgenderism, Spong has written books such as Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile (“a rousing call for a Christianity based on critical thought rather than blind faith, on love rather than judgment, and that focuses on life more than religion”) and his autobiography, modestly entitled Here I Stand: My Struggle for Integrity, Love, and Equality. “Modestly,” I write, because many will recognize Here I Stand as the title of Roland Bainton’s classic biography of Martin Luther. Spong thus sees himself as a revolutionary just as he sees Luther, a man standing at a historical apex crushing the Church’s hidebound traditional beliefs and pushing her forward into a brave new age. Although it is probably not a fair description of Luther, it is certainly Spong’s agenda: insisting Christianity keep up with the science and mores of the times.

It’s been a year of beauty and sorrow for two members of the Fairbanks Four, who spoke Sunday at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church during a “Service of Thanksgiving” marking the one-year anniversary of their release from prison.

“So many beautiful things have happened,” George Frese said before about 45 people in the church sanctuary. “Oprah Winfrey says they are whispers from God, right?”

Frese and fellow speaker Eugene Vent spent most of their adult lives behind bars after juries convicted them — along with Marvin Roberts and Kevin Pease — of the murder of John Hartman, a teenage boy who was brutally beaten, sexually assaulted and left to die on a Fairbanks city street Oct. 11, 1997.

From Utah-When one thinks of religion in downtown Provo, the thought unsurprisingly turns to the LDS Provo City Center Temple. But just a few blocks away at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, a congregation of Christians meets each week to worship and sing praises in their own way.

On Saturday, the Episcopal Church was the site of a rare occasion. The Rev. Timothy Yanni was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in a service rich with worship, praise and rites sacred to the church. In general, only a few priest ordinations occur each year, but in Provo, this was the first priest ordination in several years.

“I feel calm, I feel very serene,” Yanni said shortly after his ordination service. “I don’t feel nearly as anxious as I was this morning.”

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Julie Bubanovich worships in the same Roman Catholic church, St. Nicholas in Millvale, as her parents and her immigrant grandparents, and she’s taken a lead role in helping preserve its renowned murals.

Virginia Fisfis also worships where her grandparents once did, St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church, whose brick facade and golden cupolas rise over an open area near the Strip District’s historic Produce Terminal.

Like many other Catholic parishioners, they are anxiously awaiting the results of a major downsizing planned by the Diocese of Pittsburgh in Allegheny and five neighboring counties in response to declines in worshipers, priests and funds.

From WND-From 1714-1718, James Oglethorpe was a military aide under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy fighting to drive the Turks out of Belgrade, Serbia. After the battle, at the age of 22, James Oglethorpe returned to England, where he entered Parliament and worked for prison reform after one of his friends died in debtors prison.In 1732, James Oglethorpe founded the colony of Georgia in America for poor debtors and persecuted Christians. In Georgia, James Oglethorpe fought off attacks from Spanish Florida.

Oglethorpe’s secretary was Charles Wesley, and John Wesley served as the Colony’s Anglican minister. John Wesley’s efforts to evangelize the Indians proved more difficult than anticipated, and his strict religiosity was resented by the colonists.

In 1737, John and Charles Wesley returned to England where they were befriended by a Moravian missionary named Peter Boehler, who was waiting for a ship to sail to Georgia. Peter Boehler shared with the Wesleys regarding the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which resulted in their “Aldersgate experience” in May of 1738.

Religious leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region, including Sri Lanka, met in Bangkok to develop a regional strategy for the prevention of incitement to violence that could lead to atrocity crimes.

Religious leaders and actors from thirteen countries took part in the meeting from the Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim faiths. The meeting was organised by the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect in collaboration with the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) and the World Council of Churches (WCC).Former Colombo Anglican Bishop Duleep de Chickera, WCC representative, noted how the Asia-Pacific region “is today dangerously influenced by hatred and division […] Some of this is caused by religion.” Bishop De Chickera called on participants to join hands to counter incitement to violence.